


Dangan Ronpa Reloaded

by crazyassfxngirl



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Sword Art Online AU, idk - Freeform, leosaya broship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-05-20 11:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6005116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyassfxngirl/pseuds/crazyassfxngirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watch as Naegi Makoto goes through the adventures of this virtual world. As he ventures through the mysteries and tries to survive the game where after death there is no re-spawn button.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Game Starting…

“Welcome to Dangan Ronpa, the game to fulfil all your fantasies. Make friends, fight monsters, get items and NPC guardians, defeat all 100 levels and complete the game. But the last but not least important part of all is… getting ready to die!”  
This message rang across the intercom for all players to hear and see. It was the start of this new world. The world of Dangan Ronpa Reloaded.

*

Makoto Naegi walked away from the starting village. He’d never played an MMORPG game before so it was all brand new to him. He didn’t have much experience but, after luckily getting the last copy of the game, he was prepared to make the most of his experience. As he walked away, he heard,

“Hey, you!”

He turned around and saw a red-headed boy with a goatee and loads of piercings running towards him with a blue haired girl shortly behind him. He pointed at his face saying,  
“Me?”

“No, I’m talking to the tree behind you,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Of course I’m talking to you, wait up a bit will ya!”  
Naegi stopped walking and waited for the two to catch up to him.

“I’m really sorry but, do I know you?” He was absolutely certain that he’d never met the two in his entire life but there’s no harm in trying.

“No,” he chuckled, “No, we’ve never met before. God it must be weird for two random strangers to call you back like that.” He said as he scratched the back of his head. “I’m Leon, Leon Kuwata, high school level baseball player, soon to be high school level rock singer.”

The girl next to him finally spoke, “I’m Sayaka Maizono, high school level pop idol. We’re really sorry for chasing you but we were wondering if you knew how to level up.” He looked up at her username and saw she and the red head had no XP. He was pretty sure he didn’t have any either, seeing as this was the first time everyone had logged on. “Leon was supposed to search it up on the website because I had a concert but of course he totally forgot to do it,” she sighed as she sent a menacing glare Leon’s way. “I know we’ve all just started but you wouldn’t happen to know, would you? We don’t wanna start the game as fresh meat just because Mr. ‘I’ll do it Saya, I promise’ can’t keep his brain focused for 15 minutes.” 

“Hey, I said I was sorry, what else do you want from me woman?” Leon exclaimed, his hands making wild gestures as Sayaka giggled at him.

“I know, I know. So, how about it…umm...Gosh we don’t even know your name!” she realised.

“Oh, that’s right. My name’s Makoto Naegi.” Naegi said “The only way to get XP, as I’m pretty sure you know, is battling and defeating monsters. If you click on that little circle near your waist it opens up your inventory. You should both already have a weapon and the accessory you chose at the beginning of the game.” He explained, “You can also see other players’ stats by looking up at their head for a couple seconds.”

Both Leon and Sayaka open up their inventories to reveal that Leon had a red rapier and a long red coat while Sayaka had a pink sword and an extension to put her hair into long pigtails. Naegi opened his inventory and saw the green sword with a four leafed clover pattern at the handle he had chosen and a pair of long brown boots.

“Great!” Leon cried “Now that we’ve got our weapons how ‘bout we start up our adventure, together!” He said looking back and forth between Naegi and Sayaka, sticking his hand out. 

“Team?”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Sayaka agreed laying her hand on Leon’s. She turned to face Naegi, “Come on, how bad could it be?”

“…Sure!” Naegi replied putting his hand on top of Sayaka’s. “Alright? On three. One, two…”

And one three they all lifted up their hands and started their adventure.


	2. The Beginning

“Go on Saya! Send the finishing blow!” Leon shouted at Sayaka as he knocked the Dire Wolf back.

“You got it!” Sayaka replied, “Argh!” she shouted as she swung her sword sending out a shrill sound wave towards the wolf. It roared and disappeared into sparkling shards of data. A notification box popped up saying,

“Congratulations! XP gain 10. New level: Level 3”

“Alright! Looks like the only person here who’s still at level two is high school level baseball.” Sayaka said as Naegi sniggered. “How does it feel to be the weakest in our group, oh great Kuwata?” she giggled putting her fist in front of Leon’s mouth like a microphone.

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up.” Leon grumbled as he shoved her hand away. “Anyways, I think I’m gonna log out now. Too bad in-game food won’t cure real life hunger.” He said rubbing his stomach.

“Okay then!” Naegi said,” See you later!” he exclaimed waving at Leon as Sayaka started waving too.

“Bye guys.” He said opening his task manager. He stared at it for a minute before turning around and asking, “Hey, guys, the log out button ain’t here anymore.”

“Are you sure Leon?” Sayaka asked as she ran beside him and looked at his task bar.

“Leon, I’m pretty sure you just overlooked it.” Naegi reasoned as he stood in-between Sayaka and Leon looking over at the task bar and, indeed, the log out button was gone. 

“Ya think it’s a bug or something?” Leon asked, “I mean should stuff like this really be happening in the official release?”

“Hey, guys.” Sayaka said, “We’re getting a teleport request from SAO, it must be to talk about the log out issue.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Teleporting…  
They were teleported back to the starter village, as they looked around they realised that all the other gamers were there as well. As they looked up at the sky it turned pitch black. A fall of what looked like blood pooled in the air and created a black and white bear. The bear looked around and said, “Upupup! Welcome, players to the wonderful world of Dangan Ronpa Reloaded. I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here. Well, there’s been and, change in rules.” A murmur ran through the crowd as he said this. “Well, now, if your die here… you die in real-life. Isn’t that despairing!?”

“What the fuck man!”

“As if! We ain’t stupid.”

“You can’t do that!”

All these things were shouted from the crowd as the bear continued his speech.  
“Oh, and, if any of your family members try to take of your headgear. Even after we’ve sent out an update message, the nerve gear will send out and electric shot that will fry your brain.”

“How da hell are we supposed to get out of here if we can’t even take off the headgear!” Leon shouted, worry written all over his face.

“Upupup, good question! Well, as you all know there are 100 levels to this game. Anyone who dies will be in a ‘coma’. By defeating the last level you will set both yourself and all the other characters, dead or alive, free. When the last player dies, everyone in the game dies, for real, no backies or take backs.”

“Now way, he can’t be serious, I won’t believe it!” Sayaka shouted turning away from the giant bear. “I’m leaving.”

“Well. This has been interesting. I hope you all enjoy Dangan Ronpa Reloaded. Upupup!”

The bear faded away and that was it. ‘It’s all over,’ Naegi thought, ‘This was the beginning of a new world. A world where a simple game had been changed into a life or death situation. They were now all stuck in Dangan Ronpa Reloaded.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is chapter 2, hope you enjoyed this because I realized how much I changed it from the original SAO and added different stuff, please don't be mad! ^__^


	3. Chapter 3

It’s been three months since the official launch of Dangan Ronpa Reloaded, in those three months, over 200 people have died in the game. 

“Alright!” said a very tall, muscular man with black hair with a white tank top under a black gakuran, as well as blue pants and sandals.

‘He kind of looks like a cosplayer,’ Naegi thinks as he stares at the man, ‘but I guess we all look like cosplayers with the clothes and weapons we have.’

“My name is Nidai and I have given myself the name to lead the expedition to lead all surviving players to the end of this treacherous game and save all those who have fallen before us!” he shouts, his loud voice boom through the space.

“And why should we listen to you?” Is shouted from the crowd.

“Well, there really isn’t any reason for you to listen to me… except that we found the first boss room.”  
“No way!”

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Ha ha! I knew that would get your attention! But yes, we found the first boss room. His name is Illfang. Illfang's First Floor Boss Room is twenty meters wide by 100 meters deep. He uses a large bone axe and a leather shield to attack, and has four HP bars. Behind his waist, he carries a meter and half long talwar weapon. Three guards will spawn and defend the boss from us at the start, and with the lowering of each of his HP bars; an additional three guards will spawn.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Let’s go kill that boss!”

“Wonderful! We should all meet back here at 10:00am in the morning tomorrow! Victory waits for no man!”

Groans are heard throughout the stadium until an obnoxious voice speaks up.

“I’ve got a…request,” A tall, slim figure sands up to reveal a boy with short dirty blond hair, and white framed glasses, “My name is Byakuya Togami and I say that the beta testers, the people who played the game before it came out, if you're too stupid to figure that out, should give up their items. I mean, it’s their entire fault that the 200 players died because no one knew how to play this game. It’s only fair.”

Whispers break through the crowd as people process this new information.

“Oh fer fuck’s sake you can’t be serious.” A tall and muscular young man with brown and blonde hair, with the latter on the top stood up and strolled to the centre of the arena. “Name's Owada and I just wanted to say that this guy is completely full of shit, that’s all.”

“Excuse me?” Togami looks and Owada in disgust, “Say that again.”

“Oh, did you not hear I said you’re full of shit. Wanna know why?” He opens his inventory and clicks on something, then a small brown book appears in his hand and he holds it up. “This,” he shouts “is a beginners guide, I may not have read it but even I know what this is for. We were given them when we first entered and you wanna know who was giving ‘em out, that’s right the beta testers.”

“Humph,” Togami says turning around, “whatever peasant.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Alright alright,” Nidai reasons “stop blondie, you too…blondie. Now everyone get into pairs that you’ll be fighting in tomorrow.”

“Alright then,” Naegi says turning around, “any of you guys wanna partner?”

“Sorry dude, he said pairs and I’m kinda already in one.” Leon apologises, scratching his head.

“What about her, the girl with the light-purple hair over there?” Sayaka asks pointing to relatively tall girl, with purple eyes and a pale complexion wearing a dark purple collared thigh high dress with heeled knee-high boots and black gloves sitting by herself with a stern look on her face.

“Yeah dude, good eye Saya, now go get her!” Leon encourages pushing Naegi towards the young girl.

“So, you got left out too?” Naegi starts, sitting next to her hesitantly.

“Yeah… is that the only reason you came over here? To tell me what I already know. I didn’t buy this game to play with friends, unlike you with the sunshine people over there.”

“No, I…I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to team.” Naegi said nervously.

“…hmm… okay then.” She opened here task manager and started a party with me.

“How did you know my name?” he asked.

“Well…that boy did just call it out, and its right above your head.” 

“Oh… right. Thanks…” he says peering above her head to see her nametag, ‘Kyoko Kirigi.’ He thought he’d heard the name Kirigi before. “Kirigi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated, I feel so proud. I'll probably make a document with everybody's outfits seeing as I haven't really described them. I'll put it in the next chapter! Comments make me smile ^^


	4. Chapter 4

Naegi bumped into Kirigi a few hours before they were due to set off. He sat next to her, holding a piece of bread in his hand and said,

“I wish that cheap in-game food taste as good as cheap real life food.” 

“…I guess, but there’s not much we can do about it.” She said, turning her bread in her hand.

“Well, there is one thing I can do about it.” Naegi said opening his inventory and clicking on a jar of cream. “I bought this from one of the food stores, it cost a vendor’s carpet but I don’t intend on opening up shop any time soon,” he smiles, “you can have some if you like.”

She looked down at the jar on the bench and slowly and lightly tapped the lid. She raised the hand with the bread inside it and moved her finger along the bread’s crust, leaving a trail of thick, pale yellow liquid behind. She hesitantly took a bite and said,

“It does make it taste much better,” she said as she brought the piece of bread down from her mouth, “but I didn’t come to this town to eat good food.” She got up and looked down at Naegi and said, “We should start going, we can finish eating as we walk.”

Naegi looked up at her. She kept talking about how she didn’t get this game to have fun or play. ‘That’s kinda strange,’ Naegi thought as he got up and they started walking back to where they were supposed to meet to fight the first boss.

*

“Naegi, Kirigi, you target the boss’s minion.” Nidai’s loud voice boomed.

Everyone was in pairs, except for the people who would be attacking the boss, who were in two groups of ten, one to diminish the boss’s first two bars and the other to fight the boss after he had switched weapons. 

Most of the pairs were practical. Excluding Naegi and Kirigi the groups were: Leon and Sayaka, Owada; or Mondo as he preferred to be called with a boy called Ishimaru with spiky black hair, red eyes, and large eyebrows. He wore a red shirt with a white and red collar with a small blue pearl clipping it in place. He also had white knee high trousers with his whole outfit outlined with gold. He also had silver shoulder-pads, gloves that went to his inner elbows, and faulds. He wore black lace-up knee high boots and wielded an anneal blade. The two were complete opposites and clashed but they insisted on pairing to see which of the two was stronger. Some of the less practical pairs were Togami and a girl called Toko Fukawa, who not only was it clear to see she had a crush on the boy nut was on the receiving end on most of his insults. 

*

“Okay, so the strategy is to switch in and out. I’ll attack while you stand back and vice versa. Alright?” Naegi explains.

“Alright.” Kirigi agrees as they walk up to the boss room.

They finally enter the boss room and the groups start attacking. As they attacked, Naegi saw Kirigi fight and thought, ‘Whoa, she’s really fast and good with her sword.’ As he saw Kirigi swing her Wind Fleuret at the minions.

Slowly but surely Illfang’s health depletes until his last HP bar was glowing red.

“Everyone, stand back! I’m going for the finishing blow!” Nidai shouts bring out his sword and rushing forward.

“Nidai, wait! I thought we would do the final attack as a group.” A brown girl with short brown hair who Naegi recognized as Akane, Nidai girlfriend.

As Nidai raised his sword to strike, Naegi realized something was wrong.

“Nidai stop! The attack pattern is different it’s not a Nodachi, it’s a Talwar! Pull back!” Kirigi shouted but she was too late. Illfang struck Nidai with a deadly combo and he hit the ground, his health steadily dropping.

Naegi ran over to Nidai’s body and pulled out a healing potion.

“Don’t.” Nidai said raising his hand to stop Naegi from healing him, “Just…J-just make sure you finish the game alright. Finish the game, not just for me but for everyone else too.” 

Naegi nodded with tears in his eyes as Nidai burst into shards of data and disappeared.

“Naegi!” Kirigi shouted, lifting her sword. “Let’s finish what we started!”

Naegi nodded his head and ran towards Illfang with Kirigi close behind him. As they fought Naegi tripped up and took a hit from one of Illfang’s minions and was slammed to the ground. Just before he took another hit, a silver blade stuck out of the minions’ stomach as it shattered into data. The silver blade belonged to a pickaxe that was wielded by none other but Mondo Owada.

“Don’t just sit there you idiot. Get up and kill this boss, a’ight. We’ll cover you.” Behind Mondo were Kiyotaka, Leon and Sayaka, two girls called Aoi and Sakura, guy called Hagakure and many others who you didn’t have the time to look up at their name tags.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t tell anyone else I help ya alright.”

Naegi got up and ran back to Kirigi, looking back on last time at Mondo and the others fighting the Kobold Sentinels. As soon as he got to Kirigi she shouted,

“Deal the finishing blow, I’ll defend you!” Kirigi moves the left just enough for him to run in-between her and land the finishing blow. As Illfang roared in pain his last HP bar depleted and it exploded.

[Congratualtion! Floor Cleared! Item gained: Coat Of Midnight] 

Naegi started at the congratulations box that had appeared in front of him.

“You can have it y’know. You did deal the finishing blow after all. Well done.” Kirigi praised as she pulled up the edges of her gloves.

“Thanks, I-“

“WHERE IS HE? TELL ME WHERE HE IS RIGHT NOW BEFORE I BUST YOUR HEAD IN!” Naegi turned around to see Akane shouting at Mondo, tearing running down her face.

“I keep telling you, he’s dead okay. THERE’S NOTHING I, OR ANYONE ELSE CAN DO ABOUT IT UNTIL WE GET OUR ASSES OUT OF HERE AND FINISH THIS GODAMNED GAME! NOW I DON’T FIGHT GIRLS BUT YOU’RE REALLY GETTING ON MY NERVES!”

“Owada-kun don’t shout!” Kiyotaka chided, putting his sword back in its sheath. 

“Don’t try and pin this on me ya hard-ass! I’m not the one who was shouting their head of.”

“ENOUGH!” Kirigi shout coming between the two boys. “Akane, Nidai is dead alright. But he said he wanted you, us to be brave. If we are brave we’ll win this game and we’ll get everyone back, alright?”

“I-I, um, I,” Akane sighs as she wipes away her tears. “You’re right.”

“I know I am.” She turns to face the crowd behind her. “Let’s get out of here.”

As they walked out of the boss room and into the first town of the second floor Kirigi said,

“I think we should break party, I have things to do and going on adventures isn’t one of them.”

“I think you misinterpret why I’m here, I’m not just trying to be nice, I want to be your friend.” Naegi smiles and Kirigi smiles back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah I did do some clothes design thingy. It's basically me wasting time by editing already existing SAO clothes to fit the characters. I don't know how to link it though. HELP MEH PLEASE!


	5. Chapter 5

*

“Here’s to us, the Lords of Dark Ravagers.” Hagakure says as he lifts his chalice up in a toast.

“I still think that’s a dumb name,” Aoi grumbles as she lifts her cup up as well, “but whatever. Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Hagakure, Naegi and Sakura say as they clicked cups.

“And here’s to Kirigi-san, the girl who saved our lives.” Sakura says, turning to Kirigi’s seat and smiling.

“I didn’t land the finishing blow, Naegi did. Congratulate him.” Kirigi says as she lifts her eyes of the wooden table in front of her.”

“Take a compliment Kirigi! Without you I never would have been able to land the blow and we wouldn’t be here!” Naegi says, “Say cheers, if not for your own sake, but for mine.”

Kirigi looks at Naegi intently, then softens her glare and gives a small smile. “Alright then, cheers.”

“Thank you so much.” Aoi thanks.

“It was nothing.” Kirigi replies, taping her nails on the wooden table.

“I was really scared. When I heard that you had defeated the first boss floor, I could’ve cried with joy.”

“S-sure.”

“Um Kirigi-chi, I know this is rude to ask,” Hagakure whispers with his hand shielding the side of his mouth, “but what level are you.”

“Level 20 or so.” She says as she looks up at her HP bar, staring and the number 40 that stared back at her.

“Hey that isn’t too different from ours.” He realises, looking between her and Naegi, “especially for pair players.”

“You don’t need to ask as if it’s a big deal, pair and solo players only target isolated enemies, it isn’t that efficient compared to guild fights.”

“O-oh, I see. In that case, would you and Naegi-chi be interested in joining out guild?” He says, “The only one we have who can occupy the vanguard is Sakura, a mace user.” He turns to Aoi and puts his hand on her head. “This is Aoi, as you already know, I planned to have her switch to sword and shield use, so she could fight in front. But she says that she isn’t really sure how. Ya think you can show her the ropes?”

“Hey!” Aoi retaliates, “Don’t talk about me like I’m useless!”

Hagakure turns as she moves her head away.

“I can’t go and fight in the front ranks, I’d be scared.”

“Of course you’d be scared, you’re you.” Hagakure laughs as Aoi digs her foot into the ground and grumbles.

“There’ nothing wrong with being scared Aoi,” Sakura says, “everyone is scared at some point, that’s what makes us human.”

“She’s right Aoi,” Naegi agrees, “don’t give up!”

“Everyone in our guild is from the same school, Hopes Peak Academy, as I’m sure you know.” Hagakure says as he looks around at the rest of his guild, “You went there too right.”

“Correct.”

Naegi runs over to Kirigi’s seat, places his hand on her shoulder and says, “Of course we’ll join, right Kirigi?” Naegi looks down and her with a small smile on his face.

She sighs and looks at the people in front of her, she wouldn’t mind being around them for a while. “Alright then, I agree.”

*

[May 9, Floor 20]

Aoi lifted up her shield in defence as the rest stood back to give her space to attack the Killer Mantis. She whimpered behind her shield as the creature snapped at her, leaning forward on its 4 legs and showing her its small triangular teeth and blue tongue. It slashed her shield with one if its scythe-like limbs.

“Aoi!” Kirigi shouted moving in front of her, “Get back!”

The Killer Mantis stuck down just as Kirigi raised her sword to slice of one of its arms and it shattered into polygons. Aoi shuffled back as Kirigi shouted,

“Sakura! Switch!”

“Right.”

Sakura ran in and hit the Mantis at its next with her mace and it shattered.

[Exp: 352, Cor: 190, Items: 1]  
[Congratulations! LV up: Sakura]

“Alright!” Hagakure cheers as he runs up to Sakura to give her a hug.

“Yeah. Well done Sakura.” Naegi agrees as Sakura turns around and smiles at them.

“Thank you Sakura-Chan!” Aoi says and Kirigi looks at everyone’s smiling faces as her lips curve into a small grin.

*

Everyone lay down in the meadows looking at the sky when Hagakure pulled out a newspaper and said,

“So the lead group made it to Floor 28, amazing.” He turns and looks and Naegi, “Hey, Naegi, guys. What’s the difference between the lead groups and us?”

“They know the fastest way to gain EXP, and they don’t share them.” Kirigi replies moving her hair out of her face and behind her ears.

“I guess that’s part of it. But I think it’s willpower.”

Kirigi replies, confused, “Willpower?”

Hagakure sits up and looks at the setting sun, “I don’t know if it’s the desire to protect one’s friends… No, everyone. Right now they’re still protecting us. But I’d like to think our will is just as strong as theirs. Naturally our first thought is out friends.” He looks at Sakura, Aoi and Naegi. “But someday, we want to be at the top right with them.”

“I see, right.”

He scratches his head and chuckles, “Heh, maybe.”

Aoi jumps up from where she was sitting and walks behind him. “Hey leader, looking good.” He crouches down and pulls Hagakure into a chokehold, laughing.

“Come on…”

The others walk over too, both Sakura and Naegi have small smiles on their faces and Sakura lifts her hand and rubs Aoi’s head. She says,

“So we’re going to be at the top are we?”

“First we’ll all hit level 30.”

“That’s impossible.” Aoi squeaks as she tightens her hold.

_'If the Lords of Dark Ravagers ever do grow up and make it to the front lines,'_ Kirigi thinks, _'Hagakure’s ideas could change the atmosphere up there.'_ She smiles, but then looks at her level 48 HP bar and it falls into a frown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally stopped procrastinating to update. I may update a little slower because of school but there's nothing I can do about that. Thanks for 300+ hits and all the kudos this fic has gotten. Comments make me write faster ;p [not really but they make me feel guilty of not writing and force me to]


	6. Chapter 6

*

 

Everyone sat in the hotel room when Hagakure said,

 

“I have an announcement for you. As of our last hunt, we’ve saved 200,000 Cor!”

 

The guild cheers and whoops as he continues.

 

“Before too long, we’ll be able to buy our own house.”

 

“Hey, why don’t we get more equipment for Aoi?” Sakura asks.

 

“It’s alright Sakura-Chan,” Aoi said with her hands between her thighs, “I’m fine with what I’ve got.”

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Hagakure says, “We can’t have Kirigi protect us forever.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“I don’t mind, don’t worry about it.” Kirigi replies.

 

“Sorry, Kirigi-chi. Aoi, I know how hard it is to switch jobs. But you’re almost there. Let’s all do our best.” He clenches his fist and smiles.

 

“Yeah.” Aoi smiles and looks down at her lap.

 

*

 

“Naegi,” Kirigi whispers, “come here. I need to show you something.”

 

“Alright,” he whispers back, “lead the way.”

 

Kirigi opens the door and walks outside, shutting it behind her.

 

**[Floor 28: Wolf Plains]**

 

Naegi and Kirigi walk across the grassy hills under the moons light. They come to a halt as they stand onto of one of the hills and looks down to see a guild in red clothes fighting Blood Wolf Leaders. As they look down Naegi says,

 

“Hey, I know those two. That’s Leon and Sayaka.”

 

They watch a Leon and Sayaka, a girl with long multi-coloured hair consisting of black, pink, blue and white, some of which is tied into two oni horns on the top of her head; a tall, young woman with long, silver hair, a short boy with dusty blond crew cut hair and a girl standing to the side who had long, choppy, dark purple hair. They cornered the wolf, Leon and Sayaka in front and the grey haired girl and black, pink, blue and white hair girl at the back. The blonde boy ran forward with a liberator and slashed the wolf in its stomach, destroying it in an instant. He looked up and stared at Naegi and Kirigi before shouting,

 

“Who the fuck are you!?”

 

The rest of them looked up and Sayaka started waving at them.

 

“We know them, Naegi! Kirigi!” she shouted.

 

“Kuzu, dude, clear out the rest of the mobs a’ight. Anything they drop belongs to whoever killed it. Go wild.” Leon shouted as he and Sayaka started to walk to the two on the hill.

 

“Sure, whatever. Let’s go guys.” The boy who Naegi assumed was Kuzu waved his hand and the rest of them followed him to kill the rest of the mobs.

 

“Dude, we haven’t seen you two since the second floor.” Leon said as he and Sayaka raced up the hill. "“You’re out levelling this late?”

 

“You guys joined a guild?” Sayaka asked as she looked at the icon near each of their shoulders.

 

“Yeah. I see you guys made one too.”

 

“Heh, yeah.”

 

The blonde you ran back and shouted, “You guys done chatting we’ve cleared them all out.”

 

“Umm, yeah. Come meet our friends.”

 

“Do we have to?”

 

“Yes, get up here.”

 

The group walked up and Leon started to introduce everyone.

 

“The multi-coloured hair girl is Ibuki. Say hi when I say your name.”

 

Ibuki smiled and waved, “Ibuki-Chan is pleased to meet you.”

 

“The grey haired girl is Peko, the purple haired girl is Mikan an-“

 

“And the baby faced boy is Kuzuryuu.” Leon finished.

 

Peko and Mikan waved as Kuzuryuu shouted,

 

“Call me baby faced again I’ll rip out your organs.”

 

“Nice to meet you all.” Naegi greeted.

 

“Nice to meet you but we’ve got to go.” Kirigi said walking through the group, pulling Naegi by the sleeve.

 

“Umm, sure.” Sayaka supposed.

 

Leon agreed, “We’ve got to go anyways but don’t be a stranger and visit us sometime a’ight.”

 

Naegi turned back and waved as Kirigi continued to pull him down the slope.

 

*

 

As they walk Naegi received a message.

 

“Huh.” He opened the message which read: **[This is HA; Aoi went out and hasn’t returned. We’re heading for the dungeon area. If she messages you, give me a call.]**

Kirigi looks over Naegi’s shoulder to read and said, “I’m guessing that ‘HA’ means Hagakure. What did he say?

 

He turned around and said, “He said Aoi went missing, we should split up to look for her.”

 

“Okay then.” She turned again and started pacing away.

 

_‘Don’t leave too slowly,’_ he thought, _‘well I guess I’m going this way.’_ And he started walking.

 

*

 

As Kirigi walk she opened her ‘Skill’ tab and clicked ‘Searching,’ then ’Tracking.’ She dragged Aoi’s name into the popup window. Green tints covered her purple irises as she looked at the ground, following the neon footprints.

 

*

 

She walked down streets lined with inns and hotels until she came to a river covered by a bridge where she found Aoi sitting underneath with a cloak on her shoulders.

 

“Aoi,” She looked up at Kirigi as she walked towards her,

 

“Kirigi.”

 

“Everyone’s worried.” Kirigi continued as Aoi turned her head away from her. Kirigi walked and crouched down next to her before Aoi said,

 

“Hey Kirigi, I want to run away.”

 

“Run away from what?” Kirigi answered turning her face to the other girl.

 

“From this town, the monsters, from Sword Art Online.” She looked down at the slabs beneath her feet.

 

“A double suicide.”

 

Aoi chuckles. “That might be okay… No I’m sorry, that was a lie. If I was prepared to die I wouldn’t be crying underneath bridge, would I?” She sighs, “Why can’t we leave this place. Why do we die, even though it’s just a game? I don’t get it.” Tears started forming in her eyes.

 

“I don’t think there is a point to this Aoi,” Kirigi replies, choosing her words carefully, “I’m not sure what to tell you.”

 

“I’m afraid of dying.” Aoi says, hugging her folded legs, “I’m so scared, I haven’t been able to sleep…”

 

“You won’t die, I promise you that.” Aoi turns to her.

 

“How can you be so sure?”

 

“There’s no need for you to force yourself into the first ranks, we’ll protect you.”

 

“I really won’t die?”

 

“You’ll go back home, just like everyone else. You’ll be fine.” Kirigi stands up and stretches out her hand to Aoi. “Let’s go, the others are worried.”

 

Aoi takes her hand and says, “Yeah, let’s go.”

 

*

 

“Okay, see you later.” Naegi waved, turned around and said to his crystal, “Teleport: Town Of Beginnings.” And he burst into light and disappeared.

 

“Should we go earn some extra cash while Naegi-chi is out buying the house?” Hagakure asked as they walked away from the centre of the town.

 

“Will we buy furniture?” Aoi asked delighted as she clapped her hands together.

 

“Maybe we should go to the dungeons?” Hagakure replied.

 

“Wouldn’t our normal hunting grounds be better?” Kirigi suggested.

 

“It will take less time if we do it on higher levels.” Sakura reasoned, obviously for the plan of grinding more Cor. “At our levels, we should be fine.”

 

Kirigi stared at the teenagers in front of her and reluctantly nodded her head, agreeing.

 

*

 

**[Floor 27: Dungeon]**

The teenagers walked the corridor which was plated with crystal slab, their footsteps echoing across the room.

 

“I told you we’d have no problem.” Hagakure exclaimed as they walked. The came up to a wall which had a circular glowing pattern on it. He leaned forward and put his palm on it, the pattern extended and the wall pushed back to reveal a room with a single chest in it.

 

_‘A secret room?’_ Kirigi thought.

 

They walked in and Hagakure gasped. “A treasure chest!” He ran forward with Sakura walking behind him.

 

“W-wait!” Kirigi shouted with Aoi standing behind her, right in front of the door.

 

Despite this he opened the chest then, suddenly, the room’s colour changed to red and a blaring sound was released, shutting the door behind them and opening rooms of Dark Dwarf Miners and Granite Elementals.

 

“It’s a trap!” she shouted as the mobs kept spawning in. “Everyone, we need to get out of here!”

 

Hagakure rips out his teleporting crystal and shouts, “Teleport: Taft.” It did nothing. He stared down and tried again. “Teleport: Taft.”

 

“We can’t use our crystals.” Aoi whispers as she stares at her hands.

 

“This is a crystal-nullification area?”

 

The Dark Dwarf Miners rush towards them and start attacking. Kirigi slashes one and it explodes into data. Hagakure’s starts to run but trips, before he can get up the miners attack him, stabbing their weapons into his back and the room filled with his screams as he turned into dust that disappeared into the air. Kirigi attacks again, destroying all the mobs in front of her. Beside her Sakura attacks, swinging her mace at one of the Granite Elementals but her attempts are futile. The hit isn’t strong enough and it slices her chest, dropping her HP to zero.

 

“STOP IT!” Kirigi screams as her vision blurs to colours of blue and red as she races through her opponents. In front of her she sees Aoi defending herself with her sword; it’s raised horizontally to block the attacks that are being sent her way. “Aoi!”

 

“Kirigi!” She pushes the Elemental of her as she shouts Kirigi’s name.

 

“Aoi!” She attacks again, moving closer to Aoi’s position every time. She reaches her hand out but she’s too late. Aoi is pushed forward by the momentum of the attack. Her side fringe covering her right eye as her HP quickly drops to zero. Everything seems to move in slow-motion. The rest of the world is drained of colour as Aoi’s mouth moves to words Kirigi will never hear. As she sees a last tear run down the cheek of her dying friend. The world is silent. Then she explodes into thousands of polygons, the shattering sounds too loud, too vivid for Kirigi to bear.

****

**_‘I promised to save you.’_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel fucking evil I can tell you that. I guess Naegi really is SHSL Luck, or else he would've died with Aoi and the rest. I still can't believe I wrote that (ಥ﹏ಥ). Comments force me to write guys! Thanks for reading so far! (◕‿◕✿)


	7. Chapter 7

*

**[Floor 49: Myugen]**

The town roared with rage as its peaceful sleep was long over. People ran through the streets, chattering and singing, buying presents for friends and family. Christmas songs were sung and bells were rang as the festivity grew and spread. Blankets of snow disguised the cobble floor; Kirigi knew this because she had spent the past five minutes shuffling her feet in the same spot, revealing the stone.

“Lately you’ve been taking on bigger pair quests with your partner; he’s your lucky charm or something.” A small figure stood behind the bench Kirigi sat on as she waited for Naegi to come back from one of the stores.

“I know why you’re here. Have you got any knew information.” Kirigi replied stone-faced.

“Nothing worth charging for Ki.”

“Pretty unusual for you broker.”

“These are all first time events, they ain’t the same as the beta, you out of everyone should know that _very_ well. It’s hard to get information.” She continues, “However, later today, an event boss called ‘Nicholas the Renegade’ will appear. Beneath a fir tree. People are try the damn hardest to find the guy, it’s probably not even worth the trouble.”

Kirigi looks up and sees Naegi holding a box and jogging to her, smiling. She stands up.

“You know what it is, don’t you.”

“Maybe, but thanks for the extra information, I appreciate it.”

She walks towards Naegi as he weaves through the crowd. “What did you go and get Naegi-kun?”

“It’s a present for you, but don’t open it until tomorrow. You’ve got to promise me.” Naegi holds out his right pinkie.

“…Promise.” She holds his pinkie with hers and they start walking again.

*

_‘In this world people don’t come back to the dead, only when the entire game is completed. And we don’t even know if that’s true or not. But people have been saying that one of Nicholas’s drops is an item that can revive the dead. I want to do this alone, where no one will see me fail and die. I don’t want Naegi to suffer, I’ll tell him to stay behind.’_ Flashes appeared in her mind as she watched her former guild members die over and over again. She took out her sword and stared at her reflection, _‘If I die, I’m doing it alone, where I can hurt anybody. My pride, my arrogance, my need for friendship, it killed you all and for that I am so sorry.’_

*

**[Floor 32: Forest Maze]**

“Kirigi-kun hurry up! The slower you go the colder we get. I’m not sure whether you can die of hypothermia in SAO but I don’t want to try and find out.”

_‘He refused to let me go alone. He followed me here even when I ordered him not to. He sure is persistent.’_

Naegi looked up from the map in his hand, “We’re here.”

They ran forward into the time vortex to find the boss.

*

Behind them a bright blue light appeared and when it had faded it revealed Leon and Sayaka’s guild, looking for the same boss that they were.

“Yo.” Leon greeted as his guild spread out to stand beside him.

“You followed us here?” Kirigi questioned, eying up the teenagers in front of her.

“Yeah sorry, you after the revival item too?”

“Yeah.”

Sayaka butted in, scolding them, “You shouldn’t risk your life on some stupid rumour.”

Naegi counter attacked her statement saying, “But you guys came here?”

“But we’re a guild, you two are pair players. If you die in the game, you die in real life. You should re-“

“Shut up.” Kirigi snapped, cutting Sayaka off.

Mikan raised her hand to intervene and said, “M-maybe we should join forces. I-It would mean we are m-more protected. It also means there are more defenders to h-help when I need to heal someone.”

Ibuki replies, agreeing. “Yeah. Ibuki-Chan loves that idea. Whoever gets things gets to keep them. That makes it fair.”

Kirigi looked down, “Then they’d be no point. I have to do this myself; even having Naegi is too much.” She pulls out her sword and another larger guild teleported in. “Looks like we weren’t the only ones being followed Naegi. The Holy Dragon Alliance?”

“These fuckers would do anything for a rare item.” Kuzuryuu sneers as he brings out his weapon.

“W-what do we do.” Mikan asked, standing behind Peko.

“Dammit.” Leon curses, his weapon up. “Go guys, we’ll hold them off.”

_‘Leon…’_

“Are you sure Leon?” Naegi questioned.

Sayaka shouts back, “We’ll be fine. Go, _now_!”

Naegi and Kirigi turned and ran; Kirigi looked back and stared at the people who were surely saving her and Naegi’s lives.

_‘Thank you.’_

*

They walked up to the enormous fir tree, bells ringing in the air. Naegi looked up and saw two shooting stars speeding across the clear sky.

“Hey Kirigi, it’s us.” He pointed to the stars in the sky.

A figure jumps down from the sky and landed to the ground, spraying snow all over the two players.

‘Nicholas the Renegade. He kinda looks like a twisted and ugly version of Santa Claus with his pale blue face with yellow-white hair.’

The boss stands up, towering over the two. It made an electrical sound as Kirigi brought out her sword.

“Shut up.”

She and Naegi ran towards the boss and fought with all their might.

*

They walked back the way they came and were met with the sight of Leon’s guild sitting and panting on the ground. Leon turned around and shouted, “Naegi, Kirigi!”  Kirigi walked up to him, her hands clenching over the revival item in her palm as she tossed it at his feet. “W-what?” he questioned.

“If anyone ever dies in front of you, use it.”

Leon takes a look at the item and reads its description. “…within ten seconds?”

Kirigi started walking but Sayaka jump up and grabbed her sleeve. “Kirigi, be careful alright! I don’t want to one day hear that you’ve gone and gotten yourself killed alright!”  Tears gathered in her eyes as she loosened her grip on Kirigi’s arm. “Just… just don’t die alright.”

Kirigi looked back, then in front of her. “Naegi, we should go.” As they walked away Kirigi thought of how she’d risked his life for someone that she couldn’t bring that.

*

Kirigi sat in her hotel room, her head laid on the table. Her inventory started bleeping; as she opened it she read the description.

**[Gift Box from Aoi Asahina]**

“Aoi?” She quickly clicked the message and a Record Message crystal fell into her hand. She opened it and it let out a right, circular, yellow light in which a voice started playing.

“Merry Christmas Kirigi. I hope you and Naegi are alright.” It was Aoi’s voice. Kirigi gasped as she continued to listen to the message. “By the time you hear this, I’ll probably be dead. To tell you the truth, I never wanted to leave the Town Of Beginnings. But if I kept feeling like this, I’d probably die someday. It’s not your fault, it’s my own problem. I had a feeling you’d be beating yourself up for me letting myself die, after the talk you gave me of you making sure I survive til the end. That’s why I recorded this, to tell you otherwise. And I already knew your true level; I saw when I walked into your room the next morning after our chat.” She giggled, “When I found out your true level I felt so relieved. So even if I die, you can keep living and bring me back, alright? That’s what I want you to do.”

Kirigi let out a sniff as she tried to hold in her tears from the sweet message that Aoi had left her.

“Since its Christmas, I’ll sing you a song.” She started humming ‘Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer.’

Kirigi breathed heavily as tears started streaming down her face, listening to the last time she would hear her friend for a long time.

“Goodbye. I’m so glad I met you. Thank you, goodbye.” The message ended and the crystal fell to the surface of the wooden table as Kirigi let out one final son.

**‘I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.’**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Episode 3 is finally finished. I just realized how long this fic will be. But look forward to next chapter, A fandom favorite will appear! Comments make me happy and motivated guys.


	8. Chapter 8

**[Floor 35: Lost Forest]**

“What?” Celestia Ludenburg sneered as she tapped her fingers on her side. “You’ve got that girl to heal you. You don’t need any heal crystals.”

“’That girl’ has a name y’know. Her name is Chiaki and what about you?” Chihiro Fujisaki retaliated stamping his foot. “You never fight in front, what do you need crystals for?”

“Of course I do.” She giggled, “Not everyone adores me like you Chihiro, so others won’t heal me.”

“G-guys don’t fight.” Yamada pleaded, stepping between the two players.

“Y’know what, fine!” Chihiro opened his task menu and broke guild with the others. “I don’t need your items. I’m not partying with you again so don’t beg me to later.” He lifted his fist to his chest. “There are loads of people who want to me to join their parties. C’mon Chiaki.” He turned around and stomped off with his light pink haired NPC guardian close behind him.

“Fujisaki-kun, w-wait!” Yamada called out but his attempts were futile as Chihiro had already made his decision and stomped off into the deep woods of Floor 35.

 

*

 

In the middle of the forest Chihiro and Chiaki crouched behind a tall tree, both panting with Chihiro having drawn his knife.

“I don’t think this was a good idea.” Chiaki commented as three Drunk Apes approached them.

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock.”

He looked up at his HP bar. **[Chihiro: 3871/9342  LV:52]** “Shit.”

One of the Drunk Apes struck the ground beside him and he jumped out of the way and sprinted behind the three apes. Before he and Chiaki could run away one of the apes made a swing at him, hitting him in the chest, shooting him back.

“Fujisaki-kun!” Chiaki shouted, putting her hand on his forearm and healing some of his lowering HP.

“T-thanks.” He replied, turning to face the three mobs then dipping his hands into his pouch.

_‘I don’t have any healing crystals?!’_

In the moment his back was turned one of the apes attacked his back, sending him flying against a tree trunk.

“Ahh.”

He slid down the trunk and he crouched on the floor. His health was now in the red after taking two strong hits. The three mobs approached him slowly, taunting him. He scanned the forest floor but the weapon he had previously been holding was nowhere in sight. He looked up for one last time as the lead ape raised his weapon to strike. Chihiro closed his eyes and braced for a hit that never came. When he opened his eyes he saw Chiaki lying in the grass having taken the final blow for him.

“Chiaki!” He screamed and ran over to her, crouching by her head. “Chiaki….Chiaki!”

She turned to face him, her body starting to glow.

“Chiaki… Chiaki!” He cried and cradled her head in his small hands. “Please don’t leave me, you’re the only friend I’ve got.”

“Fujisaki-kun…” And with that she disappeared. Chihiro stared into the open air in front of him, trembling in fear. He turned his head, only to be greeted with the sight of the three mobs being turn to dust, one by one. He looked down and saw two people, a girl with light purple hair and a boy with brown hair and an ahoge, both with their swords up high.

“Are you alright?” The boy with the ahoge asked while slowly walking toward Chihiro. At the gentle tone that was used Chihiro’s face fell even more than it already had, his eyes filling with tears that ran down his small face.

“Chiaki.” He whispered. He looked over to the spot where Chiaki had died and picked up the small white and pink bunny pin that floating and glowed in that spot of grass. “Don’t leave me. You’re the only person I have here. Don’t leave me.”

Naegi and Kirigi looked down at the sobbing boy beneath them. Kirigi muttered something and turned around; content with having saving the boy and not having the time, energy or patience to look after him with all that was going on, but Naegi had different ideas.

“Are you alright?” he looked at the boy in front of him and knelt down beside him, taking a glance at the pin in his hand. “What’s that pin?”

“It’s Chiaki. My partner, my friend… ”

“You gained an NPC guardian? I don’t think I personally know anyone who’s done that before.” Naegi smiled, “That’s a pretty great feat y’know.” He sighed, “I’m sorry we weren’t able to save your friend.”

“No.” Chihiro shook his head, “I was being careless and stupid, and I should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to go through this forest by myself, especially not just me and Chiaki.” He turned, “Thank you for saving me.”

“Hey, does that pin happen to have an item name?”

Chihiro checked the item and looked at it name. **[Chiaki’s Heart]** More tears gathered in his eyes as he thought of his friend and tugged the pin closer to his heart.

“Don’t cry yet. If Chiaki’s heart is still here it means that you can still revive her.”

“I-I know. The 47th Floor, there’s a plant that can revive dead guardians, but I’ll never hope to get there in time by myself, or fight the boss there.”

“The Hill of Memories,” Kirigi walked up to the two boys on the floor, “There’s a flower that blooms there that can revive guardians.” She put her two fingers under her chin, “At least that’s what I’ve heard, I haven’t been there myself because I don’t have a pet.”

“If you gave us the GP we would go for you.”  Naegi scratched his head. “But you need to be there for it to work.”

“Thank you, maybe if I work up my level hard enough I’ll get there soo-“

“The revival only works for three days after the guardian dies.” Kirigi cut in.

“No…” Chihiro looked at the pin again. “I’m so sorry Chiaki.”

“You have three days.” Kirigi opened her inventory and clicked at least 5 to 6 items. “If I give you these and we go with you then it should be easy enough.”

“T-thank you.” Chihiro opened a gift box and chose Cor, scrolling through the digits of Cor he could give. “I’m not sure this will be enough but-“

“You don’t need to pay us.” Naegi intervened.

“Helping you will not complicate our way so there’s no need.” Kirigi commented.

“…I’m Chihiro.” He said after a moment of silence.

“I’m Naegi and this is Kirigi. We probably won’t be together long but it’s nice to meet you.” Naegi held out his hand expectantly.

“It’s nice to meet you two.” And they shook hands.

 

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't update this in a little bit but oh well. I also have a tumblr if you wanna see. Don't know why you would but.


	9. Chapter 9

*

**[Floor 35: Mishe]**

The three walked through the busy roads of Mishe city with people crossing their paths left and right.

“Look, there Fujisaki-kun.” A voice shouted and Naegi, Chihiro and Kirigi turned around and Chihiro sighed.

Behind them Hifumi Yamada ran, waving his hand and calling out, “Chihiro, you’re late!” He slowed down, put his hands on his knees and puffed, “I was worried about you, and so was Celeste.”

“U-um.” Chihiro stuttered, unsure of what to say.

“I’m sorry about Celeste but let’s party up again, we can do what you want this time.” He offered.

Chihiro took a step back as he spoke, “That’s nice but…” He turned to Kirigi and Naegi, then wedged himself between them, “I’ll be partying with these two for a while. Sorry.” He grabbed their arms and started pulling the two away.

As they walked away Naegi asked, “Him and his friend wanted to party with you? You must be pretty popular here, that’s impressive.”

Chihiro walked a little slower and sighed, “No… They just wanted me around to be their mascot.” He turned his head to the ground, “I’m not strong enough to be able to start my own party even though I’ve been playing games for a long time. In this game I’m limited to my own body, which isn’t that strong. People wanted me in their teams because I looked cute and had Chiaki…But now…”

“Don’t worry.” Naegi said, “We’ll get there in time. I promise.”

“But we won’t if you keep stopping,” Kirigi commented, far ahead of the other two, “Hurry up.”

The two looked at each other and grinned, “Right!”

*

“Where do you live?” Chihiro asked as they approached a hotel.

“Floor 50,” Kirigi replied, “but that’s too far. We’ll stay here for tonight.”

“Really!” Chihiro cheered, “The cheesecake is really good here.”

“If it isn’t Fujisaki-kun.” They turned and saw a slim and pale girl standing next to Yamada, the boy who had approached them before, who had black hair in two large twin-drill pigtails, red eyes and black nail polish with her hands on her hips. “You made it out of the forest.” She walked forward, “I’m relieved.”

Naegi looked down at Chihiro and whispered, “Is something wrong?” and Chihiro shook his head.

“Huh, what happened to the girl?” Celestia inquired, bending her back to be level with Chihiro.

“Chiaki died,” he muttered, “but I’m going to get her back.”

The girl stood back up, “So you’re going to the Hill of Memories…But at your level, will you even be able to clear it?”

“He will.” Kirigi interrupted, coming between the two, “It isn’t that hard.”

“So you’re the two helping him.” She looked at Kirigi and gave a small smile, then turned back to Naegi. “You don’t look particularly strong to me.”

“We’ll be fine Celeste. There’s no need to worry. Naegi, Chihiro; we can go now.” She pushed passed the girl who Naegi now knew was called Celeste and continued walking with the other two close behind her. As they walked away Celeste smiled.

*

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know about Celeste? I didn’t think she’d be into video games.” Chihiro turned to Kirigi who was sat on her desk and looking through her messages.

“Celeste is well-known,” Kirigi stated, “She’s well-known here for trades and has a high straining level. In addition to her already high gambling skills, she’s got a name for herself, don’t you think?”

“I guess. But why is she acting so evil now? We’ve gone to school for so long together, I didn’t think she hated me that much.”

“In online games, a lot of people like to play the bad guy, especially in MMO’s. But this game isn’t like other MMO’s.  Harmless things like player killing in other games are lethal here. Our green indicators, depending on your player status will change. Orange if you’ve committed a crime, for example, stealing. Red if you’ve killed another player.” She curled her fist, “People just don’t understand this isn’t a game anymore….Sorry, I-”

“Kirigi… you’re a good person, y’know that? I know at school you like to keep to yourself and such but, you really are kind. I’m glad that we’ve become friends.”

“…Thank you, Fujisaki-kun.”

“Wait,” Naegi interrupted, “You two went to school together?”

“Yeah, Hope’s Peak Academy. Didn’t I tell you?”

“No…”

“Oh, sorry. But it’s not that big of a deal.”

*

**[Floor 47: Floria]**

The three of them stood in front of towering, white pillars that marked the entrance of Floria. In front of them stood grassy hills adorned with beautiful flowers that stretched as far as the eye could see. Couples and friends strolled through the pretty pathways and sat at the foot of the flowing fountain.

“Whoa, I knew this place was beautiful but this isn’t what I was expecting.” Chihiro marvelled as they slowly walk into the centre of the level.

They walked through the field of the level until they came to a stone bridge over a gushing river.

“Do you both have crystals?” Kirigi asked, after the two nodded their heads she continued, “If anything unexpected happens, warp out. Don’t come back until I message you, alright?”

Naegi started to protest but Kirigi cut him off again, “Alright.” Seeing that Kirigi was not willing to budge her request he puffed out a sigh and nodded his head. “Good, let’s continue. Over this bridge is the beginning of the Hill of Memories.” They strolled over the bridge and were, once again, met with fields of beautiful flowers and small hills.

“Kirigi, it’s awfully quite here of there to be a rare item, are you sure-“ Naegi was unable to finish his sentence as a large flower-like mob wrapped it’s vines around his trousers and hauled his into the air. “What the hell!” he shouted as he was dangled from quite high up in the air.

“A Garish Gerbera.” Kirigi shouted as both she and Chihiro unsheathed their swords. “Chihiro, you see on the tip of its head, there’s a white spot, strike it there.”

Chihiro nodded and ran towards the mob, jumping up just before reaching the flower and landed right on the flowers head. As the mob roared and waved Naegi around Chihiro plunged his sword in the centre of the white area of its head. It screeched and exploded into shimmering polygons. Bothe Chihiro and Naegi fell to the ground, Chihiro on his feet and Naegi unfortunately on his back.

“I must be the most unlucky person ever.” Naegi grumbled as he stood up, rubbing the back of his head.

“Don’t worry, they’re really weak. Still, I’m surprised it went for you and not Chihiro, Chihiro’s much smaller than you.” Kirigi smiled, “Perhaps your luck isn’t as good as ours.”

After walking for a little while longer Chihiro asked, “So this is where the revival item is?”

“If I remember, it should be just ahead of us.” Kirigi said as they continued.

In front of them once again was a slim, brick road sandwiched by more fields of flowers. At the end of the road was a short, white pillar holing the revival item which they had travelled so long for. The pure white flower bloomed in the middle of the pillar, tiny green sparks arising to show its blooming.

“You can take it now.” Kirigi commented, “We haven’t got all day."

Chihiro walked forward and cupped his hands underneath the Pneuma Flower. “So, this should bring Namani back…Right?”

“It should.” Naegi replied, “So this is great. We can go back home now!”

“But there are some strong flowers around here. We should do it when we return from town.” Kirigi suggested.

“Right.” And Chihiro smiled.

*

They reached the bridge they had previously walked over before Kirigi shouted into the air. “Celeste, I know you’re there. If you want to talk, come face me. Or get out of the way.”

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a plot change guys, I promise! Sorry I didn't update a bit, I may be on and off as I have end of year tests and honestly Spanish is patear el culo. Also I happen to have been spelling 'Kirigi' wrong. It's actually Kirigiri, but it seems no one noticed so we're gonna pretend I spelt it right. My tumblr is here, if you wanna know.


	10. Chapter 10

*

Kirigi stared at the trees bordering the other end of the bridge. A girl strolled out from behind a tree with a smirk on her face.

“It seems your detective skills here are just as good as they are in the real world Kirigiri-san,” Celeste smiled.

“Kirigiri?” Naegi said, trailing off to silence.

“And you’ve got the flower. Well done Chihiro-kun. Now hand it over.”

“You can’t be serious Celestia! What do you even want with it?” Chihiro protested.

“It doesn’t matter what she wants it for, as long as I’m here, she isn’t having it.” Kirigi stated, “How does it feel to be one of the most well-known green player in an orange clan Celestia?”

“I don’t kill people Kirigiri, I’m not heartless, and I’ve not invested that many points in attack. I don’t tell my clan to kill people, I just get them to listen in on conversation, lure people to me and steal.” Celestia disagreed.

“Wait… Then why did you party with me in the first place?” Chihiro questioned. “We were together for at least 3 weeks.”

“I wanted Chiaki’s drop, I was waiting for her the either die or be killed. But now she's dead there's really no point… And the revival item is worth way more.” She held out her hand in Chihiro’s direction, her voice becoming soft, “Come on Fujisaki-Kun. Hand it over.”

“As if!” He struck back, “I’m getting Chiaki back, and I don’t care what _you_ or _anyone else_ has to say about it.”

Celeste’s eyes hardened as she took a deep breath before raising her index finger to her eyes and screeching, **“What do you mean you’re getting her back! She’s not real! You never had her in the first place! Stop acting like a child and grow up! Give me the flower,** **_NOW_ ** **, or you'll see how many of my friends have invested in attack points!”** From out behind her sprang many male players, their weapons raised high with sly smirks on their faces. “If you refuse to give up the flower, I’ll just have them take it from you.”

“Celeste, we don’t want to fight you!” Naegi tried to reason with Celeste, but she’d made up her mind. Kirigi started walking forward, unsheathing her sword as she went, surprising the orange players in front of her.

One of the players glared at her before his eyes widened and he tapped Celeste. “Celeste-san, the girl and the brown haired boy. They were the ones who defeated the first level boss! She’s one of the highest ranked players in the game so far!”

“I know. And I don’t care. Defeat her and get the item. A lot has changed from the first level.” Celeste replied.

The man nodded and ran forward, the rest of his team following suit. They lunge at her, swinging their weapons, streaks of neon light lighting up the air.

“Stop it! Naegi, we can’t leave her to fight by herself!” Chihiro yelled, brushing his hand against the handle of his sword, prepared to fight.

Naegi put his hand on Chihiro’s shoulders, “I think she’s fine. Plus, she told us to stay until she said. Plus, I trust her. She won’t put herself in danger like that.”

Kirigi continued walking, until finally, she stopped, right in front of Celeste. The orange guild had stopped attacking, panting heavily in a circle around her.

“What the hell! Stop messing around!”

“About 600, in about 10 seconds,” Kirigi stated, looking Celeste right in the eye “That’s the total damage the 10 of you can do to me. I’m level 79, I have 14,700 HP. My HP regenerates 700 points every 10 seconds. The level mechanic of the game makes having a higher level gives you an immense advantage, we could stand here all day and I wouldn’t go down to orange. But I’m not going to wait that long.”

“W-what. That’s not possible!”

“It is. MMOs have quite an unfair levelling system, but that’s why there are certain places largely levelled player can’t go.” Kirigi held up a teleporting crystal, “My client spent his entire fortune on this crystal, to avenge his guild. It’s set to take you all to prison.”

“I’m green, if you hurt me, you’ll go orange,” Celeste argued.

“That’s why you’re not going. I need your… assistance. A follow-up on a certain player. You’re going to stay with me.”

“Are you saying I should feel guilty? You're wasting your breath... I neither think anything of nor feel anything about sacrificing others for my own sake. That is simply... how I was made.”

In a second, Kirigi’s sword was at Celeste’s throat, preventing her from speaking. “Listen to me, I do not care about your dream. You can head after you dream after this after this wretched world is destroyed. You are going to help me, you will not push me around.”

“Kirigiri-san, are you heartless. Do you not care about how hard I have worked to achieve my dream.”

“Well, I am human. I do have emotions. I simply keep it to myself. I don't show it in my face or in my voice. If we stay here, nothing will change.” She lowered her weapon and looked to her other companions, “We should go.”

 

*

 

“I’m… sorry, Fujisaki-kun.” Kirigi apologised, looking the boy in the eye as they stood in the hotel room. “I used your quest for bait, I didn’t want to give Celeste a reason to not be there by telling you.

Chihiro shook his head, ”No, you’re a good person Kirigiri-san.” He looked over at Celeste, who was shifting through a deck of cards. “I think Celeste is a good person too, despite how she denies it.”

“Perhaps, should we revive Nanami now?” Chihiro nodded his head.

_‘I’ve got a lot to tell you Nanami. I may not be as strong as you or Kirigiri, cunning as Celeste or even as kind as Naegi; but I’ve got something.’_ He opened his inventory, taking out both Nanami's pin and the revival item, placing them on the table as they combine into a  blinding light. _‘I’ve just got to use it.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this was a bit late! It's summer holidays in 2 weeks so I'll hopefully be able to write more chapters in that time. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction so… yeah. I hope you liked it! If you’re wondering what they’re wearing they’re just wearing their normal clothes so… just imagine that.


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